new iPhoneshttp://www.maclife.com/taxonomy/term/16981/all
enThe New iPhones Look Great, But the Presentation Could Use Some Workhttp://www.maclife.com/article/analysis/new_iphones_look_great_presentation_could_use_some_work
<!--paging_filter--><p>If you ask me, Apple doesn't have an innovation problem. If anything, it has a delivery problem.</p><p>Steve Jobs may have instilled Apple's executives with his design philosophies, but there's one thing he couldn't pass on: showmanship.</p><p>Whenever he walked onstage, you could feel Jobs' cadence, from his rhythmic pacing to punctuated speech. Like a great concert, it never felt rehearsed, but he hit every mark with precision. There have been plenty of great Apple products unveiled when Jobs wasn't on the stage — iMac G5, iPhone 5, iPad mini, iOS 7, even today's iPhone 5s — but despite the jokes and cheers, it never feels quite like it used to, when the lights dimmed and the master appeared.</p><p><img src="/files/u330237/2013/09/screen_shot_2013-09-10_at_5.22.57_pm.png" width="620" /></p><p>Of course, there was nothing wrong with today's iPhone event. It certainly moved briskly — if there was ever a knock on the so-called Stevenotes, it was that they could drag in spots, routinely clocking in at over two hours with large chunks of repetitive demos — but despite delivering two great products, there was a muted, almost somber tone to the 75-minute presentation. The intimate venue made it feel more like a lecture than a performance.</p><p>All of the elements are still there. Tim Cook tersely updated us on the iTunes Festival and Apple retail. Phil Schiller got in a few Android pot-shots. Jony Ive skillfully strung superlatives together in the slick product videos. But despite the nervous energy in the room, there just wasn't a whole lot of excitement to go around.</p><p>To be fair, the team is still learning its chops. While Schiller often shared the stage with Steve Jobs, he was never the star, and Craig Federighi, who looks the most natural of all of Apple's presenters, is still a keynote newbie. But it was his iOS 7 demo at WWDC that really sold it, deftly walking attendees through the many changes with wit and wisdom. Today's truncated presentation was equally genuine, and it's a shame he wasn't given more time.</p><p>I wonder why Ive isn't part of the live presentation. With such a personal relationship with every product, he is in a unique position to describe his work. Much like Jobs could run down a spec sheet and make it feel poetic, Ive's video monologues put an exclamation point on the mundane and ordinary.</p><p><img src="/files/u330237/2013/09/screen_shot_2013-09-10_at_5.49.05_pm.png" width="620" /></p><p>Mind you, an Apple event is still better than anything Google or Samsung brings us. (Go watch the I/O keynote or the Unpacked event if you don't believe me.) But for the most part, Apple could have quietly updated its website and the announcement would have been just as dramatic. Frankly, the Ive videos were the best part.</p><p>Aaron Sorkin is said to be working on a Jobs film that takes us backstage before three of his biggest keynotes: the Macintosh, the NeXT cube and the iPod. Cook and Schiller might want to make it required viewing.</p><p><em>Find Michael Simon on Twitter or App.net&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/morlium" target="_blank">@morlium</a>.</em></p>http://www.maclife.com/article/analysis/new_iphones_look_great_presentation_could_use_some_work#commentsBlogsAnalysisApple keynotesiOSiOS 7iPhone 5CiPhone 5SiPhone revealnew iPhonenew iPhonesOpinionFeaturesiPhoneWed, 11 Sep 2013 01:03:25 +0000Michael Simon18016 at http://www.maclife.com